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Memoirs of a Geisha
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joe_doufu



Joined: 09 May 2005
Location: Elsewhere

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Son Deureo! please change your icon it's making me ill.
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just because



Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigBlackEquus wrote:
I heard that they now cut the movie off after playing a few days in Korea. Is it true?


This is not true, still on at the Lotte down the street..

maybe you are confusing it woth the china situation
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mindmetoo



Joined: 02 Feb 2004

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I read the book eons ago. It was okay but the story hinges on the battle between the training geisha and the senior geisha. Once that fight is over (about 2/3 of the way through the book) the wheels fall off the story.

Trivia: The Korean actress in Lost was offered a role in this movie but she turned it down. Many thought it was a retrograde career move, preferring TV over a big Hollywood movie. I think she made the right move.
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BigBlackEquus



Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Lotte controls Asia with bad chocolate!

PostPosted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

just because wrote:
BigBlackEquus wrote:
I heard that they now cut the movie off after playing a few days in Korea. Is it true?


This is not true, still on at the Lotte down the street..

maybe you are confusing it woth the china situation


I heard that 2nd hand from a Korean friend, and thought she had confused it with the China thing too.
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Rum Jungle



Joined: 18 Nov 2005
Location: North Asia

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tzechuk wrote:
I read the book. Not seen the movie. I am told that the movie doesn't live up to the book because it loses a lot of trains of thoughts that are written in the book but not expressed in the movie.

What do you think?


True. But any novel adaptation to film is difficult when there's a first person narrator. They conveyed thoughts with some voice-over by Zhiyi Zhao but not a lot. I thought, overall, it wasn't a bad movie in keeping to the spirit of the book. Most of the main set-pieces in the novel (from what I remember) were on the screen. That's all you can ask of scriptwriters in trying to condense a novel into 2 hours of screentime.
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Tiberious aka Sparkles



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

joe_doufu wrote:
Son Deureo! please change your icon it's making me ill.


[Sung to the tune of Karma Police]

Sparkles*_*
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itaewonguy



Joined: 25 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

joe_doufu wrote:
Tiberious aka Sparkles wrote:
Ziyi Zhang is teh sex. Hottest woman on the planet -- and possibly the solar system -- IMO.


hottest Chinese woman on the planet, Michelle Yeoh. That lady is fine.

.

sorry boyz! but there can only be one! and her name is GONG LI!

she has it all!!


my thoughts of the film well...
I went into the film with an OPEN mind! I knew it was a rob marshal steven spielberg production , so knowing that I knew steven wouldnt put his name to it unless it was going to be TRUE as possible to the story!
Dion Beebe the cinematographer captured to moods beautifully!
he is known for his dark under tones, IN the cut, collaterral, chicago
so I knew the lighting the style of shots were going to be dark, emotional and vibrant!

ROb marshal did a great job for a STUDIO movie, he wouldnt of had that muchg freedom as you do in a studio film! but im sure he has enough. he did a great job!

now the casting! chinese actresses! doesnt matters! they are actresses!!
its their jobs to play different people! I mean know one cares with Russel crowes plays an American or mel gibson plays a scotsman!
actors jobs are to play different people!
if you ask me! Gong LI and Michelle YEOH are legendy actresses in CHINA and Zhang Ziyi is the hottest star of the moment in CHINA , they are great actress, and seemed like SMART marketing move for the chinese audiance! AMericans felt familiar to them becuase those are probably the the most well chinese females actress to westerners!
I think all three main girls did a great performance!
the movie was an Emotional rollcoaster so it did its job well!
you felt for all the characters, their was a lot of depth into them and you could understand why they acted in the way that they did!

but I think the reason why it wasnt a smash hit! with the critics is, not the photography or the acting! but I think the storyline!
as it was a memoir of the life of a girl who was sold into a house of geisha and torn from her sister , loniless etc. but I think for many western movie goers its to depressing! for the westerner to understand, about japanese culture! I think Ignorance from the westerner is to blame! its a very deep movie and if you dont understand some japanese culture you will miss a lot of the characters suffering! westerners will just sit their and say! why are letting that happen! why dont you stand up for yourself! blar blar
this film is lame! becuase they dont know about asian (JAPAN)
the chinese didnt want to show it they felt insulted that their hottest talents were portraying japanese! the koreans didnt care to much for a movie which wasnt about them! and the japanese has mixed reviews where they thought it was good and all! but seemed more chinese than japanese! with the red tones! but I can understand why Dion Beebe went with the reds! Westerners represent ASIA with RED! (chinese yes) but frankly westerners are dumb when it comes to asia! or countries outside their own! so red was a good choice for that! and becuase RED for EMOTIONS! LOVE, HATE, POWER, etc.. and maybe SEX!


I love EPICS and I will add it to my DVD collection!
great movie, but I think misunderstood by many!!



Last edited by itaewonguy on Fri Feb 24, 2006 11:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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khyber



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went to see this movie with a group of 6. I was expecting to be blown away by this movie according to what i've read here by most people.
My impression:
Well, it was a beautiful movie but i didn't find the story overly captivating.

My review was the kindest of the bunch. One of my friends claimed it was in his top 5 worst movies ever seen in a theatre (and THAT guy is a movie buff...like 6 degrees of kevin bacon with ANYONE in hollywood style).
Most of us said the movie had terrible pacing, a lack lustre script, subpar acting...all that stuff..

I just thought it looked purdy.
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itaewonguy



Joined: 25 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

khyber wrote:
I went to see this movie with a group of 6. I was expecting to be blown away by this movie according to what i've read here by most people.
My impression:
Well, it was a beautiful movie but i didn't find the story overly captivating.

My review was the kindest of the bunch. One of my friends claimed it was in his top 5 worst movies ever seen in a theatre (and THAT guy is a movie buff...like 6 degrees of kevin bacon with ANYONE in hollywood style).
Most of us said the movie had terrible pacing, a lack lustre script, subpar acting...all that stuff..

I just thought it looked purdy.


Well everyone is a critic these days and I think everyone wants something different from the story! If the story didn��t go into the directing of that persons favor or the shots were not what he would have liked or the colors in their opinions weren��t to their liking means the film SUCKED!
People need to remember it��s the DIRECTORS interpretation of the movie!
Rob marshal directed it! Now if some other director directed it would have looked different too! Everyone can look at movies and say ohh THAT SUCKED! ohh terrible acting, over dramatized scenes! Why draw them out so long blar blar blar! Everyone has different tastes! But to really criticize a movie the critic should look at the work as not own a personal taste to what THEY WANT to see! Because that��s impossible! We are all from different lifestyles and backgrounds! So it��s impossible to make al happy!
Because it��s a work of art and there are many individual artists working together on this film! We need to sit back and judge them all! On the overall collaboration. NOW I found many things I didn��t like about the movie myself! On a personal emotion level! Didn��t like the way some scenes made me feel! But then you need to understand many people would have felt different to those scenes! People would have found them powerful because they relate to them in different ways!
Sure the film would have looked different with a different DP or production designer! As would any movie! The film would have been different with different teams on board! Does it mean it would have been better?
Who knows! You need to look at it scene by scene!
the acting in this movie might have seem bad from some of the supporting cast because they are no native speakers so it comes across harder to express the emotion in words! Many factors come into play!

We all have our favorite movies! And imp sure almost everyone��s movies are not the same! And far from it! We all like different things!
This movie is not one of my favorites far from it!
But I will say... it might have a few faults in it and could have been different in many ways! But still a good movie! For what it was expressing!

When I watch movies I��ve got my eye on the director of photography and art directors! If they don��t have me interested the film is pretty much over before it began! And in memoirs - Dion Beebe , John Myhre, Patrick M. Sullivan Jr. did a great job not to mention Gretchen Rau set decorator
You see for me the mood needs to be set! Once that foundation is laid its smooth sailing from there... they did a great job!
The acting was good! If you noticed all the main actors have been in the game of decades!!! They are experienced actors and new comer to the screen Suzuka Ohgo who played CHIYO did a wonderful job..

Any I don��t understand why so many critics hate it! But to me it was a good movie and worth seeing again! Two thumbs for me...

I guess it��s because I look deep into detail when I watch a movie, because I went to film school and look at the movie on more of a technical point of view! So to me MEMOIRS of a geisha was a well made movie..
But many popcorn critics don��t see it that way!
Anyway, what ever as I said not the greatest film but not that bad either..
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paperbag princess



Joined: 07 Mar 2004
Location: veggie hell

PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

as a film, this movie was nice. that's all. it was not profound, well developed or thought provoking. the context was bland. the cinematography was rich and intense, but that cannot make a bland film into an excellent film. for example, there is little proof in the film of how hard a geisha's life was, epsecially in the beginning. as well there was little character development, why are there rivalries, why do parents sell there children, why does pumpkin turn out one way and sayuri another?

as far as the race issue is concerned. here's my problem, it's acting. that means it's "make beleive". if a chinese actress can play a japanese role better, so what? no one cares when a brit plays an american role, or when an american plays a french role, or when a gay person plays a straight person.
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Hollywoodaction



Joined: 02 Jul 2004

PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

After having read the book, I can't bring myself to watch that movie. It was nothing but a bad romance novel. I'm surprised Fabio didn't pose for the cover.
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Tiberious aka Sparkles



Joined: 23 Jan 2003
Location: I'm one cool cat!

PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

paperbag princess wrote:
...or when a gay person plays a straight person.


That's never happened! Not ever! And if you even think about typing "Rock Hudson," keep in mind that Mr. Hudson was twice the man you or I will ever be, and that his first name was Rock.

Look at our names, for god's sake! Imagine, Paperbag Princess and Sparkles starring in Giant? No way.

Rock Hudson was not gay.

Sparkles*_*
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itaewonguy



Joined: 25 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

paperbag princess wrote:
no one cares when a brit plays an american role, or when an american plays a french role, or when a gay person plays a straight person.


actually brits care when Americans play brits! and the french cant stand it when an American plays a french person!
and tell me an open ALIVE gay actor today who plays straight guys and is successful and creates box office gold..?

but yeah you are right why do the japanese care so much that the film had chinese stars! I LOVE THIS MOVIE!
Dion Beebe WON THE OSCAR!!!!! WHOOAAAA!!! WAY TO GO!!!

ART DIRECTION: Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau YEAH!!!
and Colleen Atwood for costumes!

and as I said earlier in my posts! these guys did a wonderful job! this movie was VERY WELL MADE!!
great movie the new dvd was just released with 2 hours of extra footage!
cant wait to buy it..

this film did VERY well at the oscars!!!
3 awards!!!
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Bulsajo



Joined: 16 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 10:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You know what really bugs me???
When NZ actors play clones!!!
I mean, come on!!!
The empire's entire contingent of clone troopers have kiwi accents?!?
How real is that?!?!?!!?!?!?

dont even get me started on oompa loompas!!!1!
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